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The Fascinating History of Kabbalat Shabbat and Lecha Dodi
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
The Germans occupied France in 1940, yet the Great Synagogue of Lyon resolutely continued to function for prayer services. French Nazi collaborators, known as the Milice, decided to take advantage of the situation by attacking the Jews in their synagogue on the Friday night of December 10, 1943.
Friday night services in synagogue begin with Kabbalat Shabbat, the “Welcoming the Shabbat” liturgy. This prayer consists of six chapters of Psalms, followed by a poetic prayer that was composed in the 1500s, called Lecha Dodi.
When reciting the final stanza of Lecha Dodi, the custom is for all to turn around and face the back of the synagogue to usher in the Sabbath Queen.
As the congregation of Lyon welcomed Shabbat with the prayer service, the would-be murderer silently entered the synagogue from the back. He prepared to throw grenades into the crowd, when he had the shock of his life. The entire congregation that had been facing forward suddenly turned to face him! He was so shocked that he dropped the grenades and ran out of the shul, fortunately only causing injuries and killing no one.
As the shul rabbi described, Divine Providence arranged for the Milice collaborator to walk in precisely as the congregation was reciting the final stanza of Lecha Dodi, which saved their lives.
The History of Welcoming the Shabbat
When Shabbat begins, we welcome it with song, as it says, “A psalm, a song for the Shabbat day” (Psalm 92:1).
But why do we start Shabbat with singing?
Rabbi Shimshon Pincus answers that when one is overcome with emotion and joy, words are limiting. Song, on the other hand, is expansive. Each week when Shabbat begins, the Jewish people are so joyous that words are not adequate to express it. We turn to songs to fully express our joy and connection.
Initially, Jews would begin Shabbat by going to shul to recite the Shabbat Maariv (evening prayer), which differed only slightly from the weekday Maariv. No additional prayers or psalms were recited.
Reciting Psalm 92, a Song for Shabbat Day, and Psalm 93 before the Maariv service on Friday night became widespread during the 12th and 13th centuries.
In 1488, the Italian Sage, Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura traveled to Alexandria, Egypt. He wrote that the Jews there prepare for Shabbat, light candles and then serve food for the evening meal. “Afterward, everyone comes to the synagogue dressed in fresh, pressed clothing, and they begin with song and praise and pray for a lengthy Maariv for two hours after nightfall.” However, we do not know what prayers they were singing.
In the 16th century, the Kabbalat Shabbat service began to take the form we know of today. Jews would recite six chapters of Psalms, beginning with chapters 95-99 and then chapter 29, corresponding to the six days of Creation.
At around this time, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz who lived in Safed composed a poetic prayer welcoming Shabbat and describing the joy of leaving aside weekday worries. He spoke about the Jewish people returning to their greatness, and “leaving the Valley of Tears.” His prayer was known as Lecha Dodi, after the first two words of the refrain.
His words struck a chord in the Jewish people, and soon became universally accepted — recited by Jews the world over as Shabbat begins. In fact, his prayer is such an integral part of the liturgy that Jewish law states that the congregation accepts the sanctity of Shabbat with the final paragraph of Lecha Dodi.
The Author of Lecha Dodi
Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz was born in Salonika in the early 1500s. In 1529, he married the daughter of Yitzchak Cohen, a wealthy man from Salonika. Rather than giving his wife a traditional wedding gift of jewelry, he presented her with his newly completed Torah work, Manos HaLevi. His bride’s family greatly valued Torah study and respected Torah scholars, and were delighted at this gift, their joy surpassing that of receiving jewelry.
Shortly afterward, Rabbi Alkabetz and his wife decided to settle in the Land of Israel. On the way, they stopped in Adrianople, Turkey. Recognizing the spiritual stature of their visitor, the people begged him to remain and guide them how to serve God and keep the commandments. Rabbi Alkabetz agreed to stay and teach the community, and several of his students became great Torah scholars. He also wrote several works at this time.
Yet, Rabbi Alkabetz would not remain in Adrianople indefinitely since he longed to settle in the Land of Israel. He arrived in Safed in 1535.
Safed at the time was a city steeped in Torah knowledge and mysticism. One of the renowned leaders living there at the time was Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal. He is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah since he formulated the study of Kabbalah into a comprehensive system, known as Lurianic Kabbalah. Two other great leaders were Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, the foremost classic the Code of Jewish Law, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (the Ramak) one of the most prolific and systematic teachers and authors on the teachings of the Zohar (the “Book of Splendor” which is the foundational work of Kabbalistic literature). Both Rabbi Karo and the Ramak became Rabbi Alkabetz’s disciples, testimony to his greatness.
The Yosef Karo Synagogue in Safed
Every week, as Shabbat began, the great Kabbalists of Safed would go out to the fields to greet Shabbat in a display of love and honor for this special day. They would joyously recite Psalms, and call out “Welcome Bride, Shabbat Queen.”
Around 1540, Rabbi Alkabetz composed the prayer of Lecha Dodi, which includes many Biblical references in its words, as well as an acronym of Rabbi Alkabetz’s name. His prayer was incorporated as part of Kabbalat Shabbat, in Safed and the rest of the world.
Rabbi Alkabetz died in 1580 and was buried in the old cemetery in Safed, where one can still go and pray by his graveside.
Outdoors or Indoors
Over the centuries, many have followed the example of the Kabbalists of Safed who welcomed Shabbat in the fields by reciting the final paragraph of Lecha Dodi outdoors. The Turkish Sage, Rabbi Chaim Benveniste (1603-1673), author of the halachic work K’nesses Hagedolah, writes that when he became rabbi in Tite and discovered that the congregation remained indoors for the entire Kabbalat Shabbat, he directed them to go back to the older custom of going outside to welcome Shabbat the way they did in Safed.
Rabbi Yechiel Michel Halevi Epstein (1829-1908), in his classic work Aruch Hashulchan, stated that going outdoors to greet Shabbos had been largely forgotten in his time. Yet, what remains of this custom today is that we turn to the back of the shul with the final paragraph of Lecha Dodi, turning westward with the setting sun as we welcome Shabbat.
A Son Returns
In a moving turn of events, Rabbi Alkabetz’s own descendant returned to his roots thanks to the prayer of Lecha Dodi.
A young man appeared at a synagogue in Israel and was invited to someone’s home as a guest. He was utterly unfamiliar with Shabbat rituals, but did his best to follow along. During the meal, he asked if they could sing Lecha Dodi again, explaining that he found the song exceptionally beautiful when he had heard it in the synagogue. Politely, his hosts sang Lecha Dodi again, and again, and again, as per their guest’s requests.
At the end of the meal, the hosts spoke to him some more and discovered their guest was actually Mahmoud from Ramallah. At their shocked expressions, he hesitantly explained that recently he had many questions about Islam and had asked his father why Islam treated Jews so badly. In response, his father threw him out of the house.
His mother managed to contact Mahmoud. She told him that his father had been infuriated by his questions, since he, Mahmoud, was actually Jewish since she was a Jew. She admitted that she made a terrible mistake in marrying an Arab man and gave him his birth certificate and her old Israeli ID card, proving what she said to be true. The final item she gave him as she bade him goodbye was a picture of her parents standing next to the grave of an ancestor of the family.
When Mahmoud finished his story, his hosts asked Mahmoud if they could see the picture. They were amazed at what it showed: an older couple standing next to a grave, on which the name Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz — the great composer of Lecha Dodi — could be seen clearly.
Rabbi Alkabetz’s descendant had been so moved by Lecha Dodi, not realizing that this holy prayer was written by his own ancestor.
For the past 500 years, why have the words of Lecha Dodi resonated with all segments of the Jewish people? It continues to inspire and reconnect Jews wherever they are — in a shul, at the Western Wall, in Safed. It’s not merely because of the beautiful words that Rabbi Alkabetz wrote, but rather based on what the words really mean.
Lecha Dodi is a reminder to Jews of the beauty of our relationship with Shabbat and with God. Jews have kept Shabbat for millennia, as a testimony that God created the world and of His special relationship with His nation. Each week, we can once again experience how Shabbat protects us and continues to be an eternal source of blessing for the Jewish nation.
Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA from 2007 – 2020. He is a popular speaker and has written for numerous publications. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org. A version of this article was originally published by Aish.
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Hundreds of Nazi Documents, Propaganda Uncovered in Argentina’s Supreme Court Archives
A person holds Nazi-related material that was originally confiscated by local authorities when it was shipped to Argentina in 1941, after several boxes containing the material were recently discovered by chance in the archives of the Supreme Court of Argentina, in Buenos Aires, Argentina in this handout picture released on May 11, 2025. Photo: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Republica Argentina/Handout via REUTERS
Argentine Supreme Court officials have uncovered hundreds of long-forgotten Nazi documents, membership cards, and propaganda materials in the court’s archives, potentially revealing crucial information about the Nazis’ global financial networks and activities outside Germany during World War II.
On Monday, the judicial body revealed that court staff had discovered these documents during the relocation of materials for the upcoming Supreme Court museum, 84 years after they were first confiscated.
According to a press release, the documents were shipped to Argentina in 1941 from the German embassy in Tokyo and seized by local authorities upon the discovery of their contents, but they remained forgotten in the Supreme Court basement until their recent uncovering.
“When opening one of those boxes, we identified material destined to consolidate and spread Adolf Hitler’s ideology in Argentina, when WWII was in full swing,” the release said.
Inside wooden crates in the court’s basement, authorities found documents, photographs, postcards, propaganda materials, and thousands of notebooks connected to the Nazi Party’s overseas organization and the German Trade Union Confederation.
Photos show the boxes filled with notebooks bearing swastikas on their covers, along with data cards that appear to hold personal information and Argentine addresses.
Argentine Supreme Court Minister Horacio Rosatti requested that the boxes be preserved and moved to a more secure office within the building, with “intensified security measures.”
Present at the opening of the boxes were Rosatti, representatives from the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center and the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, as well as conservation specialist María de la Paz Podestá — who will oversee the preservation and rehabilitation of all the documents.
“The goal is to carry out a detailed analysis to determine if the material has crucial information about the Holocaust […] and whether the clues found in them can throw light on issues that remain unknown, such as the Nazi money route at a global level,” the press release said.
Local authorities check Nazi-related documents that were recently discovered in the country’s Supreme Court basement. Photo: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Republica Argentina/Handout via REUTERS
According to the Supreme Court’s historical reconstruction, the German embassy in Tokyo shipped 83 boxes to Argentina on June 20, 1941. At the time, the German embassy in Buenos Aires claimed those boxes contained personal belongings of diplomats and requested they be allowed entry without inspection.
However, the Argentine customs office asked then-Foreign Minister Enrique Ruiz Guiñazú to intervene, expressing concerns about the potential nature of the documents, which could have compromised Argentina’s neutrality during World War II.
After discovering the contents of such documents, local authorities denied the German diplomats’ request for the boxes to be handed over so they could be sent back to Tokyo. They cited the presence of “antidemocratic propaganda” and noted that the German embassy had previously lied to smuggle a radiotelegraph transmitter as diplomatic mail.
In September 1941, a federal judge ordered the material to be seized and sent to the Supreme Court, where it was stored in an underground basement and remained forgotten until now.
Employees handle a box with Nazi-related material that was among several boxes originally confiscated by local authorities when they were shipped to Argentina in 1941. Photo: Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Republica Argentina/Handout via REUTERS
Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, but the country was also a prime destination for many high-ranking Nazi officials who fled Germany after the fall of the Nazi regime during World War II.
Last month, the Argentine government released nearly 2,000 previously classified secret service documents detailing the arrival of hundreds of Nazi war criminals who escaped to the country.
According to these documents, it is estimated that more than 10,000 Nazis used so-called “ratlines” to flee Germany as the Axis powers collapsed, with around half of them believed to have sought refuge in Argentina — known for its reluctance to grant extradition requests.
The documents shed light on the activities of prominent Nazi war criminals who fled to the Latin American country, including Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann and the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele.
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Antisemitism at Northwestern University Still a Problem, New Poll Finds
Demonstrators rally at a pro-Hamas encampment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. on April 28, 2024. Photo: Max Herman/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect.
Jewish students at Northwestern University in Illinois continue to report experiencing antisemitism at alarming rates despite the school’s insistence that the campus climate has improved since pro-Hamas demonstrations held during the 2023-2024 academic year triggered a cascade of antisemitic incidents.
According to a new Spring Campus Poll conducted by The Daily Northwestern, the school’s official campus newspaper, 58 percent of Jewish students reported being subjected to antisemitism or knowing someone who has. An even higher 63.1 percent said antisemitism remains a “somewhat or very serious problem.”
Northwestern University, however, has claimed that antisemitic discrimination on campus is decreasing. Last month, it touted its progress in addressing the issue, publishing a “Progress Report on Northwestern University Efforts to Combat Antisemitism” which enumerated a checklist of policies school officials have enacted since being censured by federal lawmakers over their allegedly insufficient handling of antisemitic, pro-Hamas demonstrations and occupations of campus property in April 2024. Most notably, the document boasted an 88 percent decrease in antisemitic incidents from November 2023 to November 2024.
The so-called progress report was released just over three weeks after US President Donald Trump began confiscating taxpayer funded research grants and contracts previously awarded to elite universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.”
On Monday, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a coalition of hundreds of organizations that fight anti-Jewish bigotry around the world, charged that the claims in the report now ring false.
“Yes, the university has reformed policies, implemented trainings, and adopted new definitions. It has pledged transparency and accountability — and some of those measures are meaningful,” the group said in a statement, citing the university’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and enactment of other policies supported by the Jewish community. “But the reality remains: Jewish students continue to feel unsafe, and a majority still see antisemitism as a serious, unresolved issue.”
It continued, “If Northwestern is truly committed to confronting antisemitism, its actions must go beyond compliance. Policies must be enforced. Commitments must be honored in practice. And Jewish students must be seen, heard, and protected. What defines institutional credibility isn’t stated intentions — it’s whether students feel safe. And right now, they don’t.”
In a statement shared with The Algemeiner on Tuesday, Northwestern University maintained that it has made immense progress toward improving campus life for Jewish students, citing as evidence the 88 percent reduction in antisemitic incidents.
“We believe this significant decrease in antisemitic incidents is directly attributable to the strength of our updated policies that were implemented at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year,” said Jon Yates, the university’s vice president of global marketing and communications. “These included revisions to our code of conduct with clear policies and procedures governing the type of actions that are prohibited and the consequences for anyone who engage in them.”
He added, “We remain confident that the measures we have implemented are working as intended and are continuing to adjust and refine our approach as necessary to ensure that our campuses are a safe and welcoming place for all.”
In April, the Trump administration expressed its skepticism of a quick turnaround at Northwestern, impounding $790 million of its federal funds.
Critics of Northwestern’s approach to rampant pro-Hamas and anti-Israel demonstrations have noted that the university’s president, Michael Schill, acceded to protesters’ demands that he establish a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contact potential employers of students who caused campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, create a segregated dormitory hall that will be occupied exclusively by students of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim descent, and form a new advisory committee in which anti-Zionists students and faculty may wield an outsized voice.
“As of this writing, we have received 98 stop-word orders, mostly for Department of Defense-funded research projects, in addition to 51 grant terminations that were mostly received prior to the news of the funding freeze. In addition, we have not received payments for National Institutes of Health grants since March. These now appear to be frozen,” Schill said in a May 1 statement addressing the government’s funding cuts. “This is deeply troubling, and we are working in many ways to advocate on behalf of the university and to resolve the situation.”
The antisemitic incidents that Northwestern University continues to see have not lost their shock value.
In April, during the Jewish holiday of Passover, someone graffitied Kregse Hall and University Hall with hateful speech calling for “Death to Israel” and an “Intifada,” alluding to two prolonged periods of Palestinian terrorism during which hundreds of Israeli Jews were murdered. The vandals also spray-painted an inverted triangle, a symbol used to express support for the terrorist group Hamas and its atrocities.
“Antisemitic acts cannot and will not be tolerated at Northwestern, nor will vandalism or other violations of our polices on displays, demonstrations, or conduct,” Schill said following the incident. “We are working systematically and utilizing camera footage, forensics, and other methods to identify the individuals responsible for this vandalism. If these individuals are current Northwestern students, they will be immediately suspended and face full disciplinary proceedings under university policies, as well as criminal charges under the law.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Top US Senate Democrat to Block Trump DOJ Nominees Over Qatar Airplane
The motorcade of US President Donald Trump is parked next to a 12-year-old Qatari-owned Boeing 747-8 that Trump was touring in West Palm Beach, Florida, US, Feb. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday vowed to block all of President Donald Trump‘s nominees to the Justice Department until the agency reports what it knows about Qatar‘s offer to give Trump‘s administration a $400 million airplane.
Trump said on Monday that it would be “stupid” for him to refuse Qatar‘s offer of the Boeing 747-8 airplane, which would be used as US “Air Force One,” the jet American presidents use to fly around the globe.
The aircraft eventually would be donated to Trump‘s presidential library.
Schumer, referring to reports that US Attorney General Pam Bondi had signed off on the deal for the plane, called it “a blatantly inept decision.”
“The attorney general must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause [of the US Constitution], which requires congressional approval,” he said in a speech to the Senate.
The Defense Department is already in the process of procuring a replacement for the current, aging Air Force One, with delivery by Boeing expected within a couple years.
Schumer said he wants answers to whether the Qatari government will pay for modifications of the aircraft needed to protect the president, secure communications and provide special configurations for what is in practice an airborne Oval Office workspace.
If the US government would have to bear those costs, Schumer said, “why are American taxpayers being asked to spend hundreds of millions of dollars or more on a plane that will only be used for year or two?”
A White House spokesperson on Monday said details of the gift were still being arranged.
Outside ethics experts have listed a range of Trump activities that could point to the president using his office to enrich himself or his family. Schumer specifically mentioned a $TRUMP meme coin, plans for a new Trump hotel in Dubai, and a new golf course in Qatar.
Currently, three Trump Justice Department nominees are before the Senate: an assistant attorney general for Maryland and two in Virginia.
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